The fashion house Valentino became the latest in a long line of famous brands to pass out of Italian hands on Thursday, when it was bought by the royal family of Qatar for a reported €700m (£550m).

It was the second renowned Italian design firm in two years to be snapped up by Gulf investors.

The company's founder, 80-year-old Valentino Garavani – a friend of princesses, socialites and film stars – staged his last collection in 2008. Ten years earlier, he and his life partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, had sold the company for around $300m (£195m) to an Italian conglomerate.

For the past four years, the design of Valentino's collections has been in the hands of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Picciolo, who worked closely with Garavani until his retirement. Their dresses have been worn by, among others, Jennifer Aniston and Rachel Weisz.

The Valentino brand first achieved prominence in the 1960s when the founder's gowns were worn by the likes of Princess Margaret, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Audrey Hepburn. Ever since, it has been associated with a style that was sometimes flamboyant, but always elegant.

Above all, it became associated with a particular shade of scarlet that the fashion business came to call Valentino red. It featured prominently in Chiuri and Picciolo's autumn/winter 2012 collection.

The Italian news agency Ansa quoted a spokesperson for the new owners, Mayhoola for Investments, as saying: "Their ability to combine aesthetics and the values defined by the founder Valentino Garavani with a sophisticated contemporary vision has made the brand extremely relevant today." Hinting at further expansion, Mayhoola's spokesperson said the Qatari investment group saw Valentino as the "ideal base for creating a broader presence in the luxury goods sector".

Though Valentino did not identify the investor behind Mayhoola, sources said the Qatari royal family, which owns Harrods, was behind the deal. Last year, Italy's Gianfranco Ferré fashion house was bought by a Dubai retailer, the Paris Group.

The Valentino fashion group was bought by Milan textiles firm Marzotto in 2002. Five years later, a private equity fund, Permira, took a majority stake in the group, which at that time also included the German menswear brand Hugo Boss.

Mayhoola bought up both Permira's stake and Marzotto's minority interest. Their holding in Hugo Boss was left out of the deal.

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